Bad day, good cop

Jan. 22, 2010

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Garden Grove police officer Thi Huynh, right, gives a high-five with a single finger to Daniel Villasenor, 6, during a recent visit to the family's Garden Grove home. The children's father Pascual Villasenor, 48, died of a heart attack last November. Officer Huynh, who was on the call the night their father's body was discovered in the driveway, felt he had to do something for the family. He collected money from fellow police officers and gave the children gifts on Christmas Eve. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Villasenor children hold a recent photo of four of the six kids with their father Pascual, 48, who died of a heart attack last November. Pictured in the photo with their father are, clockwise from left, Gerardo, Pascual, Alex and Nichole. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Maria Villasenor, 35, is now facing raising six children by herself after her husband died last November. She is very grateful to officer Huynh for all he has done for her family. Every night around the dinner table she gathers her six children prays for the police and their families. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Garden Grove police officer Thi Huynh, left, listens along with Alex, 10, and Nichole, 11, center, as Gerardo, 16, right, strums the guitar that Huynh gave him for Christmas. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Nichole, 11, left, picks a bracelet she made for officer Huynh's girlfriend. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Maria Villasenor holds a family photo taken of her, her husband Pascual and their six children. Pascual died of a heart attack two days after Thanksgiving last year. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Nichole, 11, shows off the bracelet she made for officer Huynh's girlfriend. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Maria Villasenor, left, speaks with Garden Grove police officer Thi Huynh during a visit to the family home. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Four of the Villasenor children gather around officer Thi Huynh to talk about Wii games. Huynh checks in with the family on a regular basis after their father died last November. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Nichole Villasenor, 11, flips through family photos taken with her father, Pascual, who died last November. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Garden Grove police officer Thi Huynh gets a hug from Maria Villasenor the night he visits with the family. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Garden Grove police officer Thi Huynh, right, gives a high-five with a single finger to Daniel Villasenor, 6, during a recent visit to the family's Garden Grove home. The children's father Pascual Villasenor, 48, died of a heart attack last November. Officer Huynh, who was on the call the night their father's body was discovered in the driveway, felt he had to do something for the family. He collected money from fellow police officers and gave the children gifts on Christmas Eve. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

GARDEN GROVE It started as just another call.

"927-D," the dispatcher said – a dead body.

Garden Grove police officer Thi Huynh, 29, was in the area.

I'll take it, he radio'd back.

Barely two years on the job, Huynh already had earned two Life Saving medals and a reputation as a go-getter.

He arrived to find a 48-year-old man dead of a heart attack in his driveway. Firefighters and other police were there but Huynh offered to file the report.

He knocked on the door.

"We deal with dead bodies a lot," he says. "You try to show as much compassion as possible and be professional about it. You don't get too emotionally attached. You go and handle the job."

That's what he did. For the next 15 minutes, he interviewed the grieving widow and even asked questions of their children.

Don't get too emotionally attached. Go and handle the job.

He tried. But something happened that day that he couldn't let go of. A small thing, maybe, but it stuck with him throughout his shift. Throughout the next day. And the next.

"Sometimes, it's more than just coming out and writing a report," he says of his job. "A lot more. When you can do something, you should do something."

So he did.

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

Tucked in a file cabinet in Huynh's apartment is a letter from a 15-year-old boy.

It says, Thank-you for saving my life.

On Aug. 15, 2008, the boy lay dying, in full cardiac arrest, on the floor of his parent's home. Unconscious. Not breathing. No pulse.

Huynh and another officer arrived in time to apply CPR and bring him back to life. It was the second time that year Huynh saved a life.

All along, there had been one image that Huynh couldn't shake: six kids huddled in a hallway.

These were good kids – aged 4 to 16 – who all played instruments at school. Who all helped Dad wash trucks on Sundays to pay the bills. Who went to church and studied hard to someday become "professionals," as he dreamed.

"I remember seeing these kids peeking around the corner, wondering what was going on," Huynh says, of the day their dad died. "They didn't know. They had to be wondering, 'Why is Mom talking to a cop? What's wrong with Dad?' "

That's why Huynh asked his friends to sponsor them at Christmas. Why he asked his colleagues to pitch in. And why he asked the nonprofit United Labor Agency if they could donate some toys.

No one turned him down.

So on Christmas Eve, the caravan pulled up to the Villasenor home and out came the drums and guitars, the skateboards and video games, the clothes and dolls. There were pies and tears and hugs.

"It was the best Christmas I ever had," says Huynh, who still checks in on the family from time to time to make sure they're all right.

In return, they do what they can to make sure he's all right, too. Each morning, before school, Maria gathers her six children around the table.

"We pray for the police and their families," she says. "The kids say, 'Again? We prayed for them yesterday.' And I say, 'We're going to pray for them every single day.' "

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